“Yoga for Cancer”

When Tari Prinster took her first yoga class shortly after moving to Stowe in 1990, she wanted to improve her posture.

Then, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she found that yoga’s benefits extended well beyond her physical appearance. It helped her manage the side effects of chemotherapy and alleviate the anxiety associated with battling cancer.

Her experience inspired her to create a yoga method she calls Yoga 4 Cancer, designed for cancer patients and survivors. It also inspired her to write a book, “Yoga for Cancer,” released Nov. 24.

In her book, Prinster presents 53 carefully selected yoga poses and sequences, adaptable for all levels of ability.

She’ll be in Stowe for a book signing Sunday, Dec. 21, at 5:30 p.m. at the Helen Day Arts Center, 90 Pond St.

Through her own story and the stories of cancer survivors and yoga teachers with whom she has worked, Prinster explores how yoga can be used to manage treatment side effects, strengthen the immune system, rebuild bone density, avoid and manage lymphedema, decrease anxiety, detoxify the body, reduce pain, and help the body repair damage caused by the cancer and conventional treatments.

She outlines research supporting the physical and psychological benefits of yoga as an aid to recovery and in reducing the risk of recurrence.

Prinster, 70, lives mostly in New York City, but has a condominium in Stowe. She has always been athletic and fit, but when she reached menopause, her posture started to sag and it became more difficult to stay trim.

She began studying yoga with Stowe instructor Tara O’Reilly and was impressed as she became stronger and more flexible and experienced other benefits.

“I tell people I started doing yoga for all the wrong reasons,” Prinster said. “I started doing yoga for vanity. Not for spiritual reasons. I just wanted to look better.”

In 2000, just three days after completing the Stowe Derby, Prinster was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent three surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation before her cancer went into remission in 2001.

“During all that time, especially after I was healed enough to move my arms, I started back doing yoga,” Prinster said. “I particularly did it before chemotherapy treatments. While going through treatments, I discovered new aspects of yoga. It’s a wonderful relaxation tool, but also it made me feel in control of my body, that I was doing something for myself.”

Prinster asked her doctors for advice on which types of yoga might be most beneficial, but found that the medical community was still skeptical about alternative medicine.

So, she began researching clinical studies herself.

One study found that cancer patients who did yoga were less fatigued and slept better than a control group that did not. They also managed pain better and had better cognitive function than a control group when undergoing chemotherapy.

Another study showed that yoga boosts the immune system, helping the body battle cancer and ward off recurrences. The meditative breathing done during yoga helps circulate lymph cells throughout the body, bringing more oxygen to the blood, according to Prinster.

“Yoga for Cancer” was born out of Prinster’s frustration over the lack of yoga resources for cancer patients and survivors.

“I went to the yoga community and said, ‘Hey, I’m a cancer survivor. What should I be doing in terms of yoga?’ And they kind of looked at me cross-eyed and didn’t know what to tell me,” Prinster recalled.

Prinster started teaching Yoga 4 Cancer classes in 2005. She now trains yoga instructors in her methods.

“My students are my inspiration,” Prinster said. “The survivors are full of fear and looking for hope. When they come to my classes, which are just for patients and survivors, I talk about some of the side effects they’re going through, I talk about cancer and describe at length the long-term benefits of what we’re doing and how it’s going to help them on a cellular level. They build community out of the classes.”

The classes help build optimism and camaraderie, she said.

Teaching her students about the poses they should avoid is just as important as teaching them poses that are beneficial, she said.

For instance, deep forward bends such as the “downward dog” pose can be dangerous if your bones are weak from chemotherapy, she said.

Her classes include weight-bearing poses that help to build bone, such as standing on one leg and the “warrior poses” in which the legs are extended in a lunge position.

“It’s not just normal yoga that we’ve made gentle,” Prinster said. “It’s a very active form.”

In her book, Prinster explains how yoga must be tailored to each survivor and gives readers the tools they need to create a safe home yoga practice that addresses their abilities, energy levels, and overall health goals.